Why Packers' Jordan Love is the 2026 midseason MVP: Green Bay QB dominating with no help

There is no quarterback in the NFL doing more with less in 2026 than Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love. That's why he is the 2026 midseason NFL MVP through the first nine weeks of the season.

Green Bay has a 6-3 record with wins in five of their last six games, which would have them making the postseason if the season ended today. That is an absolute miracle. The Packers are dead last in the NFL in rushing offense, averaging 68.2 rushing yards per game. That is the fewest rushing yards per game for a team with a winning record through the first nine games of a season in NFL history, and bell cow running back Josh Jacobs is sidelined after undergoing finger surgery.

The Packers have also dropped the most passes, 23, which is seven more than the next closest team. Green Bay's 39 accepted offensive penalties are the third most in the entire league, and the Packers' offensive line is allowing an average time to pressure of 2.48 seconds, the second-fastest in the league, better than only the Carolina Panthers (2.46 seconds). That's because the Packers' best offensive lineman, right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele, went down with a season-ending injury in Week 2, and Green Bay is currently starting their third-string center. Love has also been hit 57 times this season, the fifth most in the league.

All of this is to say Love is doing a lot with not much help around him. He's earned the Packers' winning record.

Love is in the middle of a banner year

Despite all those disadvantages and NFL defenses knowing he has to throw it because the Packers can't run it, Love is dominating. On Sunday, he rolled into Gillette Stadium and threw for 372 yards passing and three passing touchdowns while completing 23 of his 29 throws, in addition to adding a 13-yard rushing touchdown. When Packers coach Matt LaFleur subbed in his second-team offense into the game with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, Green Bay led 45-21. Those 45 points are the most the Patriots have allowed in a home game since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger.

Love is playing quarterback like Ethan Hunt in a "Mission: Impossible" movie. His adversaries know he is coming, and despite the odds stacked against him, Love is still coming out on top. He leads the NFL in passing yards (2,618) and completions of 20-plus yards (40) and is third in the league in passing touchdowns (19). Love is also up to three games with five-plus completions of 30-plus yards this season, which already ranks as the most in any season in the last 35 years.

On Sunday against the Patriots, he also completed six of his eight deep passes, throws of 20-plus air yards, for 235 yards and a touchdown. That was Love's second game with at least six completions of 20-plus air yards in 2026, and no other quarterback in the NFL has done that in any other game this season, per the league's Next Gen Stats.

"I can't say enough about the play of Jordan Love. He makes my job a hell of a lot easier," LaFleur said postgame on Sunday. "He is standing in there, he's taking hits and still dealing the ball. ... Those are low-percentage throws, in theory, but he's making them look high-percentage. They're right on the money."

How Love compares to his 2026 peers

When you turn on the tape, Love is doing things physically that no other quarterback is doing. In the clip from Sunday below, he is fading off of his back foot with pressure in his face, and he calmly hit wide receiver Christian Watson for a 28-yard gain. This throw isn't an isolated incident for Love either. He makes this pass multiple times a game, week after week.

Buffalo Bills 2024 NFL MVP quarterback Josh Allen, a player some regard as the NFL's best quarterback this season, attempted a similar throw a day later on "Monday Night Football" against the Minnesota Vikings. However, he underthrew the pass for an interception. Even one of the league's most physically gifted passers couldn't execute what Love is doing.

Speaking of the Vikings and their No. 1 defense, no quarterback has thrown for more passing yards (387), yards per pass attempt (9.2), passing touchdowns (2) or a better passer rating (88.1) than Love has against Minnesota's blitzkrieg unit this season.

It's understandable for football fans and media alike to feel fatigued by hearing "the Green Bay Packers have an MVP-caliber quarterback" after Love's predecessors, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, each won at least three league MVP awards. However, Love learned well from Rodgers and Favre. The end result is the Packers quarterback factory cranked out another one. The Packers fans who made the trip out to New England know it. They serenaded him with "MVP" chants as he jogged into the tunnel after Green Bay's 45-27 victory on Sunday.

"It's a really cool feeling, and I really appreciate all the fans," Love said postgame on Sunday.